The GOP loves Israel

12/7/11 10:24 AM EST

I'm at the Republican Jewish Coalition's forum in Washington today, where Rick Santorum opened up with, among other things, the warning that Iran's leaders are seeking the nuclear apocalypse for the reward of 72 virgins in paradise.

It was Jon Huntsman, though, who crystallized the tone of a party for which a strong alliance with Israel has become an unquestionable tenet, even for the representative of its realist wing: "I have no closer friend than the Israeli ambassador to China."